The number of oil spills in the North Sea has fallen to its lowest level in three years. still rack up
But three of the biggest energy companies operating in the region still managed to clock up nearly 200 incidents between them in 2013.
Figures from the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) show there have been 517 chemical or oil releases so far this year.
However, that is down from 555 and 604 incidents recorded in 2012 and 2011 respectively.
Shell and BP – two of the biggest operators – were amongst the firms with the most incidents. Last night, both underlined their commitment to cut spills even further.
Every time a company spills something into the sea, it has to fill in a PON1 form, notifying DECC of what and how much it has lost overboard.
According to the data, the biggest recorded oil spill – of just under one tonne – was at Shell’s Nelson Platform on January 25.
E.on suffered the biggest chemical spill, losing more than 18 tonnes from the Ensco 100 in March.
Shell, which produces about 12% of the UK’s oil and gas, had the most incidents – 85.
Nexen had 60, while BP, Talisman Sinopec and Perenco had 50, 38 and 27 incidents respectively.
Chevron, Total, Taqa CNR International and BG Group made up the rest of the top 10.
A Shell spokeswoman said: “No spill is acceptable and we work hard both offshore and onshore to minimise risks so that we maintain a safe working environment for our workforce and reduce any environmental impact from our operations.”
A BP spokeswoman said its spills were mainly “environmentally friendly” fluids. “We are committed to minimising our impact on the environment and have worked to significantly reduce the volume and frequency of PON1 releases over the past year,” she said.
A spokeswoman for Talisman Sinopec said: “We have a strong culture of HSE reporting and, while releases from our assets have had minor or no impact on the environment, each is investigated to identify root causes and take future preventative actions.”